Finally in Detroit

We made the eight hour drive to Kalamazoo, Michigan to visit some family. It was nice seeing people that I haven't seen in years. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had to get to Detroit for Slow Roll. 

We check into our hotel with valet parking. It's in the Renaissance Center, the big cylindrical complex in the middle of downtown. It basically defines the Detroit skyline and is the headquarters of GM. (I'm writing this in the lobby above the GM showroom.) 

Yeah, our room is on the 62nd floor. It's insane to go from homeless to THIS in a week. 

But time was of the essence, so we mobbed to Grosse Point where we could borrow some bikes. We started off there and rode the 8 or so miles back into downtown with a group of about 14. I was not prepared for the craziness of Slow Roll. This is a weekly bike ride, about 10 miles long, with roughly 2,000 people. Did I mention it's weekly? I mean, we were shutting down streets for about 10 minutes as the entire ride rolls through. 

Photos just don't do it justice. There's a bunch of people that customize their bikes with huge stereos and lights. There was constantly music playing, no matter where you were in the crowd. 

I know the photo sucks, but this guy had the Fat Tire bike! I love that beer. 

I ended up getting two flat tires on the ride, most likely due to Detroit diamonds (the broken glass that litters every street.) The ride has people who roll around and fix flats though, and they were super nice and had spare tubes. It was a blast riding through all the neighborhoods with people out on the stoops, and children were always super excited to see us. 

On the way back we rode through some of the streets that don't have street lights anymore. It was really eery to be in pitch black in the middle of a city. I had heard of these streets, but it's definitely another thing to experiences it first hand. Detroit feels like the world has really moved past it, like a huge, forgotten wasteland. Which was a stark contrast to the energy in everyone in the Slow Roll. The people here aren't going to let Detroit fall. 

We finally got back to our hotel room and had an awesome view of the city at night. I'm excited to spend a month here.